Ciabatta bread is one of my favorite breads to make sandwiches with, or just toast up and top for breakfast. Finding a whole wheat one (aka ciabatta integrale), however, is near impossible, so, I make my own. I have a goal to scratch make as much food as I possibly can, and only buy ingredients instead of the finished product, so I’ve been developing many bread recipes lately and this is the second one that I’ll be sharing.

The recipe that I based mine off of is not 100% Whole Wheat.. so I’ve adapted it to make it 100% by adding Vital Wheat Gluten and Diastatic Malt Powder. The rest of the recipe and process is about the same.

If you don’t have a kitchen scale, get one. Measuring by weight will give you consistent results with making bread, versus measuring by volume.

This is a very wet dough .. don’t be alarmed

Looking to make a more interesting loaf? Throw in some ingredients during the mixing stage!! In these pictures, you’ll see my version of the bread which includes Sundried tomato, garlic, and basil.

Ingredients

500g Whole Wheat flour

475g Warm Water (~2 cups)

1/2 teaspoon Diastatic Malt Powder

1 tablespoon Vital Wheat Gluten

2 teaspoons yeast

15g salt

Place all ingredients into your stand mixer, and mix all ingredients with the paddle until combined. Let rest 10 minutes

Leaving the paddle in, start working the dough on the lowest speed setting for about 10-30 minutes. You are looking for the dough to separate from the sides of the bowl, and start to climb up the paddle – if it climbs too soon, switch to the dough hook.

Pour into a well oiled container and let it triple – this should take about 2-3 hours

Dump the dough (use a spatula if you have to) on to an extremely well floured surface, and cut it into half. Stretch both halfs out to oblong rectangle shapes, and place on to well oiled pieces of parchment paper. Cover them with well oiled plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes. If you are baking on baking sheets, put the dough and parchment paper on them now. After you have tried this recipe once, you will see how the dough behaves and will be able to safely transfer on to a well floured peel and bake on a stone.

Have your oven to 500F by the end of the 45 minutes, and also have a few cups of boiling water ready at the 45 minute mark. Also, place a crappy cooking sheet or baking pan on the bottom shelf.

Flipping the dough before baking is in the original recipe, but I’ve skipped it without noticing any difference. The dough will be easily flattened, so be careful with it. It does have quite an oven spring, but not enough to undo any damage you’ve done. If you take the flipping route, I suggest placing a second piece of parchment paper on top of the dough, and then flipping the whole shebang upside down to transfer – don’t pinch it with your fingers. Remember, this dough is very sticky.

Place the dough in to the oven, either on pans or transfer on to a stone. Before closing the door, pour a cup of your boiling water in to your crappy pan on the bottom shelf, or directly on the oven floor, and quickly close the door. Every 3 minutes for the first 9 minutes, open the door and quickly spritz the walls with a squirt bottle of water, or pour more water on your pan. This steam is what creates a nice crust on the bread.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until you have a nice brown bread and internal temperature registers 205F.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the above 4 ingredients and whisk together until everything is incorporated. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature for 2 hours, by then it should be bubbly and will collapse a little if the bowl is tapped on the counter.

Sponge, after 2 hour rise

Dough Ingredients

You will need:

1/2 teaspoon yeast

7 oz. (1 3/4 cup) Whole Wheat Flour

1 1/2 tablespoon Vital Wheat Gluten

1 1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon diastatic malt powder (I did 2 batches without it so far, no issues. Not sure if this makes a difference yet, but I will post an update once I receive some)

2 1/2 tablespoon sugar

Variations (see below)

Making the Dough

Mix the yeast in with the sponge so it is well incorporated, then add the rest of the ingredients into the bowl. Using the dough hook on low, knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, it took about 5-6 minutes for me. If you have any variations that you want to be part of the dough, add them during this kneading cycle.

Dough Ball, everything seasoning mixed in

Divide the dough into 3 oz. portions for smaller bagels, 4.5 oz. portions for larger bagels. Put the dough balls on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray, and cover with a damp towel and rest for 20 minutes.

Bagel Dough Balls

Pick up each dough ball and push your thumb through the middle to make a hole, then stretch out to make bagel shapes. Put the bagels back on the baking sheet and let rest again for 20 minutes, cover with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with cooking spray.

Bagel Dough.. taking shape

To see if the bagels are ready to rest in the fridge overnight, put one of them in a shallow bowl of water. If it floats within a few seconds (See below), then it is ready. Dry off the test bagel, place it back on the baking sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and place into the fridge for the night and up to two days.

Dough is floating.. it's ready to rest

Variations

Plan bagels are boring – so I make flavored ones. Possibilities are endless, so try whatever you like! Just be careful about adding sugar or anything fermentable before the rise, as the yeast will eat it and you may end up with a much larger rise than you expected.

Everything Bagels

Combine equal parts dried minced garlic, dried onion, poppy seed, sesame seed, caraway seed, and 1/4 part salt. Put a few tablespoons of this into the dough during kneading if you want the seasoning inside the dough (it’s awesome), and the rest will be used to coat the outside of the bagel after the boil

Cinnamon Raisin Bagels

Combine two teaspoons and about 3/4 cup of raisins into the dough during kneading

Cooking the Bagels

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees, and bring a wide pot of water to a boil. Add 1 tablespoon of baking soda to the water pot.

Remove the bagels from the fridge, and gently drop into the boiling water. Boil for one minute, turn them, and boil the second side for another minute. Remove them from the boiling water and onto a rack to dry out for a few seconds.

Boiling Bagels

Once they come out of the boil, now is the time to dip them into any seasoning, such as for everything bagels, rye bagels, garlic bagels, etc..

Bagels, out of the boil and seasoned up

Place each bagel onto a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 5 minutes at 500 degrees, rotate the pan 180 degrees, then lower the heat to 450 degrees and bake an additional 3-5 minutes or until the bagels are nice and brown

Remove from the oven, cool on a wiring rack for as long as you like, and enjoy! I would wait about 10-15 minutes until serving.